Mitch Austins's Harborough Town welcome Bottesford Town for a FA Cup preliminary tie. Both teams progressed past the extra preliminary round through a replay and look to equal their best ever Emirates FA Cup run by getting to the 1st round qualifying.
The Bees' best-ever FA Cup campaign saw them reach the 1st round of qualifying. Austin and his team look to equal that record in the 2022/23 season. In the extra-preliminary round, Harborough struggled away from home against Boston Town, drawing 0-0 and forcing a replay. when Boston visited Harborough, it was a very different game. Harborough comfortably won 3-0 and progressed to the preliminary round. Mitch Austin and his team had a very successful campaign in the 2021/22 season as they impressed everyone and were crowned champions of the United Counties League Premier Division South. They also managed to top of this season by winning the Premier Division Champions Cup. Harborough currently sit 18th in the Northern Premier League after getting off to a bad start and failing to get any points from their first 2 games.
Bottesford Town play in the Northern Counties East League, Premier Division and have been there since 2007! Just one league below Harborough. Last season they finished 14th which was seen as a successful campaign by the team and manager Jimmy Mcneil. In the extra preliminary round, The Poachers played out a 1-1 draw at home against Barton Town forcing a replay. They then travelled to Barton Town which was a thrilling 3-3 draw after extra time. The game was topped off by a penalty shootout in which Bottersford won 4-1. Mcneil's men are currently 11th in the league after getting 4 points from their first 3 games.
Team News
Harborough Town
Mitch Austin suffered a few injuries in his title-winning 2021/22 campaign but has avoided trouble at the start of this season. Harborough's summer has consisted of new signings and many contract renewals. Austin has a very experienced side including Kettering Veteran Brett Solkhon and many other experienced players such as Joel Carta, Rhys Hoenes and Lewis Burgess. Many of the title-winning team resigned for the season as Mitch also brought in a few youth players for the future.
Bottesford Town
Jimmy Mcneil's side have dealt with a few injuries early on in the season. Ryan King was forced off due to injury in the first game of the season and Tommy Johnston also could not play out the second game of the season. They had a busy transfer window, retaining many players from previous seasons and acquiring some youth players.
Likely Lineups
Harborough Town
Taylor, Cooper, Burgess, Malone, Kelly, Preston, Mulligan, Carta, Hoenes, Ireland, Walsh
Bottesford Town
Quibell, King, Boswell, Fawcett, Johnston, Cranidge, Ayris, Ellender, Nichol, Simpson, Thompson
Key Players
Paul Malone
Harborough's tall, commanding, veteran centre-back will play a key part in keeping their FA Cup run going. Having signed on a 2-year contract, Mitch Austin trusts him to run the defence and keep clean sheets. He has an experienced past playing for local clubs such as Corby, Kettering Town and Stamford. He and ex-championship centre-back Gary Mulligan will make it a challenge for Bottesford to score.
Luke Ayris
Luke is an agile and fast attacker who came up through the youth ranks at Bottesford. Just last season he was promoted from the under 19s to the first team. Despite being benched a lot, he managed to score a good amount of goals last season and was an important part of Bottesford's campaign.
Match Details
Where is the game being played?
Harborough Town will host this FA Cup tie. They play at Bowden Park which has a capacity of around 1000. They usually see around 100-300 fans attending their games.
What time is kick-off?
The kick-off is at 15:00 along with most of the other FA Cup Preliminary round games on the 20th of August 2022.